superstructure Hear it!

superstructure Definition

super·struc·ture (-struk′c̸hər)

noun

  1. a structure built on top of another: sometimes used figuratively
  2. that part of a building above the foundation
  3. that part of a ship above the main deck

superstructure Usage Examples

Preposition: of

  • society: Along his work, he saw the state as part of the superstructure of exploitative societies.
  • building: The key element of innovation related to the concrete frame superstructure of the buildings.
  • vessel: After almost 100 years the superstructure of the vessel was found to be in surprisingly good condition.

Possessives

  • ship: Wakefield, N.H. , Newman, S.J. and Wilson, P.A. ( 2002 ) Helicopter flight around a ship's superstructure.

Converse of object

  • build: In addition piles were driven for a temporary working platform to support a tower crane for Dean & Dyball to build the superstructure.
  • support: The piers, of which there were 181 single and 12 double, supporting the superstructure, were formed from five cast iron columns.
  • have: We already had the existing oak superstructure to work with.
  • erect: He was probably worried that at Corinth people were erecting a rather inferior superstructure on his sound foundation.
  • carry: Eight double posts carry a superstructure around the hearth.
  • make: Axial hypertexts might, as mentioned, make such superstructures clear.

Adjective modifier

  • ideological: Marx distinguishes between the economic base of society and its political, legal and ideological superstructure.
  • wooden: Two views of the wooden superstructure of the new box arising from the old pit.
  • political: Why does the economic " base " of a society affect its political superstructure?
  • entire: With the change of the economic foundation the entire immense superstructure is more or less rapidly transformed.
  • whole: The crisis was one of the whole political superstructure.
  • social: Employment can be stimulated by public investment in industry, the social superstructure and the social services.

Noun used with modifier

  • timber: The concrete piers for the vanished timber superstructure can be seen clearly in the water.
  • bridge: The bridge superstructure has received a dark blue band at window level.
  • steel: Complete new steel superstructure of superb workmanship, & internal refit of this historic boat built by Harris brothers in the 1960's.
  • deck: The boat is equipped with suction apparatus for marine salvage work and the electrical gear includes two searchlights on the deck superstructure.
superstructure Quotes

Animadverti jam ante aliquot annos quam multa, ineunte aetate, falsa pro veris admiserim, et quam dubia sint quaecunque istis postea superextruxi, ac proinde funditus omnia semel in vita esse evertenda, atque a primis fundamentis denno inchoandum, si quid aliquando firmum et mansurum cupiam in scientiis stabilire. Some years ago now I observed the multitude of errorsthat I had accepted as true inmy earliest years, and the dubiousness of the wholesuperstructure I had since then reared on them; and the consequent need of making a clean sweep foronce in my life, and beginning againfrom the very foundations, if Iwould establish somesecure and lasting result in science.

—Descartes, Rene¤

Aux colonies, l'infrastructure e¤  conomique est e¤  galement une superstructure. La cause est conse¤  quence: on est riche parce que blanc, on est blanc parce que riche. In the colonies the economic substructure is also a superstructure. The cause is the consequence; you are rich because you are white, you are white because you are rich.

—Fanon, Frantz Omar